A disappointed team returns

CHENNAI, MAY 15. Showing a palpable disappointment over not crossing the final hurdle and missing the junior Asia hockey cup by the proverbial whisker, the Indian players arrived here from Kuala Lumpur on Monday morning. There was, however, a noticeable trace of optimism that the team was viewed as the favourite right from start till the final. Another encouraging sign is the cornucopia of goals - 64 to be exact - in seven matches.

Coach C.R. Kumar, undoubtedly, is a bit disillusioned that the frontline fumbled incredibly when perfection mattered most. ``A lot of scoring opportunities were frittered away and we did not do well in one-on-one situations in the final,'' he said. Kumar was unable to fathom what went wrong with all the three strikers viz: Gagan Ajit Singh, Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur in the final hour of the championship.

Admitting to ``some extent'' that the defence was weak in comparison to the attack, Kumar said the goals conceded against the lowly outfits came as a result of the substitutions effected during these phases. ``I wanted to give every player a chance.'' He was also surprised by the failure of Arjun Halappa in not converting the penalty stroke. ``Halappa has a 100 per cent record, but on Sunday, he needlessly hurried his push which the rival goal keeper padded.''

India scored a total of 64 goals out of which 42 came from moves worked by the mid-field and attack, and two from penalty strokes. The rest were from penalty corners. Kumar said, the percentage improved match by match, from 20 to 75, with an average of 44.5 per cent before the semifinal. In the last two games, the conversion rate was nil.

Kumar is happy that 15 of the 18 who figured in Kuala Lumpur will be eligible for the next Junior World Cup at Hobart. Lazarus Barla, Len Aiyappa and Paramjit Singh are the three, who would be ineligible because of the age-factor. He was generous in his tribute to left half Prabodh Tirkey, who at 15 years and two months, became the cynosure of all eyes. Prabodh was given a special prize as the most promising player.

Kumar conceded that the exposure to international competitions in Poland and Egypt went a long way in building a match winning combination. He said Pakistan, which failed to qualify, despite having an accomplished player in Tahir Zaman as the coach, did not have this amount of preparation. Both the manager, Jahangir Bhat and coach Tahir Zaman, conceded as much. Even the Korean manager agreed after the final that his team was lucky to be on the podium.

Mr. K.P.S. Gill, President, Indian Hockey Federation, who witnessed the final, pinpointed the lack of physical fitness, especially playing in the second half, as a cause for the reverse. He said this would be one area where the IHF will be paying more attention to. He added that the failure in marshaling the defence in meeting breakaway raids caused trouble.

Mr. Gill, however, agreed the exposure provided by the federation to the juniors had paid handsome dividends. After a very long time, India was viewed as the favourite for the trophy, he emphasised. Mr. Gill acknowledged that the umpiring was of a high order and there was nothing to grumble about. In fact, he said the Tamil Nadu umpire, Mohammad Munir, earned all round approbation for his work as was exemplified by his posting for the needle match between Korea and Malaysia.

On the larger question of meeting the next big target, the Olympics, Mr. Gill explained that the IHF had drawn up a detailed programme, starting with the preparatory camp next week in Bangalore. He said India would play around 15 to 20 matches before the Olympics. This will include Tests against Malaysia, Egypt, and Argentina. The IHF President added that Ranjit Singh of Spain will continue as coach for the goal-keeper. An invitation has also been extended to former India captain and coach, Gurbux Singh, to sharpen the area of deep defence.

The team for the Olympics is likely to announced by the second week of August and it will be trained again in Brisbane, at least three weeks before the Games.

Kumar to attend masters coaching programme

Kumar, who has been asked to assist the senior team also in the Bangalore camp, has been nominated by the IHF to attend the International Hockey Federation's masters coaching programme to be conducted along with the Champions Trophy at Amstelveen from May 27.

The IHF has also asked the chief coach Vasudevan Baskaran and assistant coach, Harendra Singh, to be present in Amstelveen as part of the preparatory exercise for the World Cup. The feeling is that watching the top six teams in action will help the coaches formulate better strategies for the team.

Malaysia is expected to play a three Test series in the South, in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. In return, India will play five Test series in Malaysia. The itinerary is to be finalised shortly.

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